University of London Director of The Careers Group Introduction he University of London is one of the oldest, largest and most diverse universities in the UK. Established by Royal Charter in 1836, the University is recognised globally as a world leader in Higher T Education and has long pioneered change in the sector. Since its foundation, the University of London has built a distinctive approach to learning, teaching and research, has provided high-quality and innovative services and has acquired an extensive portfolio of property located primarily in Bloomsbury including the magnificent Art Deco Senate House on Russell Square in the heart of Bloomsbury. The University is a unique federation of 17 self-governing member institutions and nine other specialist research bodies. Now is a time of opportunity and change for the University, a time where we will harness the strengths of our history, to define our future. A future that looks forward with optimism to our 200th anniversary. Under the leadership of the Vice-Chancellor, Professor Wendy Thomson, we are re-articulating our mission, sharpening our vision and shaping a strategy that will re-define the modern university now, reimagining research and education for a diverse and complex world. Our intention as part of this strategy will be to establish ‘centres of excellence’ to generate new knowledge and innovative practices, including within the field of careers and employability. 2 The Careers Group, University of London The Careers Group, University of London he Careers Group is a unique organisation in UK Higher Education. In many ways, it reflects T the mission and structure of the federal University of London. The Group is a central academic body of the University, a distributed network of embedded campus careers services, with a set of central, shared services, a centre of excellence and thought leadership in its field and a sizeable not for profit, cost-sharing enterprise. This makes it a rich and complex organisation, which is reflective of but also helps to shape the environment of the University of London and, by extension and in different ways, the Member Institutions, whose careers services are members of the Group. The Careers Group, University of London was established over 100 years ago. It exists to make each of its member services the best that it can be strategically and operationally in the context of its institution and to ensure that each service is demonstrably better as a member of the group than it would be if it were not. Centrally and collectively, the group is highly visible in thought and practice leadership in higher education careers and employability nationally and globally. In turn, the leading edge thinking and practice enhances delivery in member services and brings reputational benefits to the University of London centrally and to member institutions. The Careers Group, University of London is an expertise-led, collaborative organisation serving the following member institutions of the University of London: UCL; King’s College London; Queen Mary University of London; Royal Holloway, University of London; City University London; Goldsmith’s; SOAS; The London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine; the Royal Veterinary College; St. George’s; the Courtauld Institute; the Institute of Cancer Research; the School of Advanced Study and University of London Worldwide. St. Mary’s University, Twickenham is also a member of the group, though not a member institution of the University of London. All the institutional services are closely aligned to the learning and teaching, student experience, employability and enterprise strategies of the institutions that they serve. The Group HQ is at Senate House and contains the Director’s office, enabling functions such as HR, Finance and ICT/Digital and central shared services, such as vacancies, content and information, taster courses, research and intelligence and professional development. Some of these are delivered in partnership with the relevant University of London central departments, whilst others are very specific to the HE careers service environment. The Group’s collective body of c270 HE Careers and Employability professionals makes it among the largest HE Careers and Employability organisations in the world. Scale enables the Group to have its own Research and Professional Development Units. The Careers Group, University of London 3 The Role he organisation is unique and so too, is the role of the leader. There is not another HE Careers and Employability leadership role like this one in the UK, nor probably in the world. This is an opportunity- T facing role in which the Director must be able to see, articulate and act upon, the possibilities for the collective, in the context of a coherent vision for the organisation. The role involves the provision of leadership and line management to the senior staff comprising the Heads/Directors of the embedded institutional careers services and the Heads of key central/shared service functions. These direct reports make up the Group Strategic Leadership Team. This group includes some of the UK’s most experienced and prominent HE careers service leaders. The post holder must have the credibility to lead this group as a collective and to support the individuals in their specific environments. The distributed nature of the organisation creates a large number of direct reports, but they are by definition, senior and experienced colleagues. Just as the Director/Head of an institutional careers service is usually the leader of the central professional service and the chief expert adviser on careers and employability; the Director of the Careers Group plays a similar role on a larger scale, both centrally to the University of London, and federally to the Member Institutions. The Director provides strategic and policy support to the Senior Stakeholders within each member institution. These colleagues are the senior staff to whom the Careers Service Directors/Heads report within the member institution. The institutional senior stakeholders are also the people with whom the Director must agree the (currently) annual subscription contracts. It is important to note that in many Member Institutions, the network of senior colleagues is much broader than the named senior stakeholder alone. The Careers Group is a not for profit, cost-sharing organisation and one of the prime business responsibilities of the Director is to ensure that the Group’s costs are fully recovered. The bulk of this cost recovery comes from the institutional subscriptions. The Director has ultimate responsibility for ensuring that central, collaborative and shared services continue to be fit for purpose as the needs of member services change and develop. In the central University, the Careers Group is one of the academic units and contributes significantly to the central University’s academic strategy. The Director reports to the Pro Vice-Chancellor International, who is also the Chief Executive of University of London Worldwide, which delivers University of London undergraduate and postgraduate degrees to c 50,000 students all over the world via distance learning. The Careers Group is a separate department but is closely aligned to the learning and teaching effort embodied by Worldwide. The Careers Group is a national and international centre of excellence and thought leadership in its field. It is the only UK HE Careers Service to have its own Research and Professional Development Units. The post holder needs the intellectual credibility to provide strategic leadership for these efforts. All member services make active use of data in general and Careers Registration in particular. Academic positioning in the central University and the developing needs of member services for research and evidence-based policy and practice support mean that this aspect of the Group’s identity will need to develop further. The profile of the role brings with it an expectation of active participation and a degree of prominence in national and international policy fora and other knowledge exchange mechanisms in the broad area of HE/graduate careers and employability. This is not only an opportunity to share the collective professional insights of the member careers services individually and collectively with external audiences, but colleagues and stakeholders also expect the resulting insights and networks to benefit the organisation collectively and institutionally. 4 The Careers Group, University of London The Careers Group, University of London 5 Job Description Role: Director of the Careers Group Department: The Careers Group Responsible to: Pro Vice-Chancellor International Main Duties To lead the understanding of the environment, the identification of opportunities and threats and the formulation of strategy for the Group. To lead the careers and employability elements of the academic strategy of the University of London. To provide effective and inspirational leadership to the Careers Group Strategic Leadership Team (GSLT) and community leadership to the Group in general. To act as line manager and appraiser for the senior staff who make up the GSLT To agree and ensure delivery against, subscription agreements with each of the Group’s Member Institutions. To provide strategy and policy support to senior stakeholders and broader communities within Member Institutions and the central University. To ensure the ongoing financial viability of the Group through the subscription agreements and other funding streams.